Afternoon Tea At Bramble Cafe

by Mat Follas (Ryland, Peters & Small, £16.99)

'These are tried and true recipes,' says Mat Follas.'They are the same cakes and biscuits we serve in the cafe, the same jam that's here on the shelf in front of me. You can find recipes for many of them elsewhere, but these are the ones I use, the ones I've tweaked and adapted. They're my own versions.'

They may look familiar, but each is shot through with Follas's hard-won understanding of his craft.'I bake at a low temperature,' he says. 'I've only got a couple of domestic ovens in the cafe and if you open the door of a 180°C oven, it will drop to 140-150°C and your cakes will crash. So I bake at 140°C. More margin for error.'

Follas's favourite recipe, his chocolate brownies, exemplifies his restless approach. 'I started with a really good brownie recipe from New Zealand,' he says. He grew up there before moving to the UK in his twenties. 'It's one I had in a notebook from 30, 40 years ago, then developed it. I've taken ingredients out, so now

it contains fewer ingredients and tastes better.'

The result of this experimentation is an amiable and sensible collection of classic recipes that never seeks to daunt readers with technical wizardry but whose comprehensive scope makes it, quite possibly, the only baking book you'd ever need - whether you're a home baker or budding cafe owner.

​'Back when we were opening the cafe, I struggled to find a book with 50 basic cake recipes,' says Follas. 'But now, if you wanted to open your own, without meaning to sound bigheaded, my book will get you up and running for your first six months quite happily.'

Mat Follas at the Great Sausage Roll Off. He said, "I'm gutted not to have gotten into the top three but it's always a fantastic evening of fun for all the chefs."

Since 2013, the Red Lion in Barnes has been giving this much overlooked buffet item the attention it deserves with the creation of the almost, nearly, infamous, Great Sausage Roll Off. A bit like the X Factor meets Masterchef, it is an evening of crazy culinary pleasure, taken in the most seriously light hearted way.

It is a live cooking event where around 20 professional chefs take their turns to create, roll and bake their own take on the Sausage Roll. It’s no mean feat, the cooking goes on in heats and lasts up to four hours!

Hosted by Melissa Cole, this year's Sausage Roll Off took place on Wednesday 24th January 2018.

VEGETABLE PERFECTION

As a Kiwi prone to understatement, he doesn't want to say it, but writing this book may have changed Mat Follas's life.​​'That's such a MasterChef thing to say,' he groans (he won the show in 2009). 'But yes, it's certainly changed the way I cook and the way I eat. Actually, it has for the whole family. My third favourite meat is aubergine,' he explains.'I began writing it thinking most good dishes could be improved with the addition of some meat. Now, I'm certain that's not true. I am pretty sure that vegetables are the real jewels. You can tell from the kids, they either don't notice or they ask for certain dishes. There's a tomato and fennel lasagne in the book that we eat an awful lot of.'Follas (right) had tried being a vegetarian ​when he was a teenager but it didn't stick because he soon tired of bean

burgers and unexciting risottos. But it's clear that, nowadays, quality of produce means that more is possible and so there's a definite air of the born-again about Follas when he gets on a roll. He's someone who is passionate enough to convert people - even if he makes statements which could sound like sacrilege to dedicated flesh eaters.'Chorizo is irrelevant,' he proclaims. 'Well, almost. I've not found a good vegetarian chorizo but I do think you can recreate the effects in a cassoulet. That's been a big step for me.

It takes some time. I think you have to admit that if you're cooking vegetarian, it might take you a bit more prep but the results are worth it.' The book covers a lot of bases, from straightforward cauliflower cheese (albeit with four different cheeses) to the spectacular looking carrot and beetroot terrine, or a nettle and wild garlic soup with a poached egg. There's a lot of show-off, dinner-party stuff as well as everyday favourites.​Recipes can be complex but are explained in intricate detail - the chopping sizes of almost everything is included. This is a book for people who find comfort in precision but it is also filled with enough ideas to make it extremely useful for those of us who like throwing in handfuls of ingredients.It's just a very solid, good cookbook and is an excellent place to start if you want to begin cooking with less meat.

​The best fish recipesIt's healthy, quick to cook, versatile and most importantly, delicious - no wonder so many chefs say that fish is their favourite food to serve up. ​Here, we've gathered the very best fish recipes, whether you're in the mood for a quick midweek salad or an indulgent Saturday night curry. Buy the freshest you can, and always try to make sure your fish is sustainable. ​​Happy eating.

METHODPut the bacon, onion and garlic in a large saucepan with a little butter (or use all of the butter if you decide not to use bacon). Fry over a gentle heat until the onion and garlic are translucent and the bacon is cooked and just starting to brown.

Add the stock and simmer until the stock has reduced by half. Add the potatoes and simmer for five minutes, then add the cream, cheese and parsley and simmer for another five minutes. Stir and taste.

Add a pinch of salt, if needed, and the white pepper. Mix the cornflour with a spoonful or two of the sauce, then add this back to the sauce and stir through to thicken it. Allow to cool completely, then add the plaice and chill.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Roll out 200g of the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 3mm and use it to cover the bottom and sides of a deep 30cm round casserole dish.

Prick the base all over with a fork. Cover the base with foil and fill with baking beans, then bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven, remove the beans and foil, then glaze with beaten egg and bake for a second time, for two minutes, to seal the pastry.

Reduce the heat to 160C/320F/Gas 3. Roll out the remaining pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 3mm thickness.

Fill the pie base with the chilled mixture, then cover with the pastry. Using leftover pastry, make fish and seafood shapes to decorate the top.​Glaze with beaten egg and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Serve while hot with salad or new potatoes, if desired.

"More than ever before modern chefs use interesting new cooking techniques and ingredients to boost texture, add depth of flavour and make so much more of humble carrots, kale and cauliflower.

Vegetable dishes are now storming the menus at some of the world s best restaurants where chefs are treating fresh vegetable produce with the reverence it deserves and turning ingredients that used to be reserved for side dishes into centrepieces. MasterChef winner Mat Follas uses his considerable culinary skills and understanding of flavour to create a collection of wow-factor vegetable recipes for vegans, vegetarians and non-veggies alike.

Organized by type of produce, there are recipes for root veg, green veg, alliums and bulbs, potatoes and squash, legumes and pods, sweet vegetables, shoots and stems, mushroom and funghi, as well as basic recipes for a well-stocked chef's storecupboard.

Celebrating Poundbury MagazineIt's a great week for the Buttermarket in Poundbury. Today Mat Follas, his wife Amanda and Kate, officially open the doors to Bramble Cafe & Deli in the beautiful Pediment building by Morrish Builders. We've seen the menu and it looks delicious - we'll certainly be in for the mac 'n' cheese. It is open 8.30-4.30 daily for breakfast, lunch and snacks. Good luck for your first week‬.

September brings the start of the native oyster season here in Britain, and to mark it, I am excited to announce that I will be mc'ing the 23rd Annual TABASCO® Brand British Oyster Opening Championship on September 2, an event which hosts Britain’s best professional oyster shuckers as they open and do their best to perfectly present 30 native oysters in the shortest time. The fastest shucker, with the best presented tray of oysters, will be crowned champion.

While the fastest time sits at under 3 minutes (that’s less than 6 seconds per oyster!), there are time penalties for grit, shell, or tears in the oyster flesh. Using sharp knives at high speeds carry another danger, too: a shucker’s blood on an oyster adds on a massive 30 second time penalty, so speed alone does not necessarily guarantee a winner.

The trays of oysters will be judged by three respected and well-established names in the seafood and shellfish industries – Chris Leftwich, who is Chief Inspector to the Fishmongers Company in London and is responsible for the quality control of seafood sold at London’s Billingsgate Fish Market, Mike Berthet who has over 30 years experience in Fish and Seafood as a chef and now represents M&J Seafood on sustainability issues, and David Jarrad who is CEO of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain. These judges will decide on a winner to be awarded the trophy, a £250 cash prize, and a spot at Galway International Oyster and Seafood Festival.

TABASCO Sauce and oysters are a classic pairing. The touch of acidity of the pepper sauce complements the briny flavour of oysters very well. The private event will be held on 2nd September at Wright Brothers Spitalfields, Old Spitalfields Market, 8a Lamb St, London E1 6EA.Follow the hashtag #TABASCOOysters for news on the day, photos and videos, the winners and the losers.